• Earilest known medical document by Sumerians
  • 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia

• Herbal medicines were prevalent in ancient Egypt
  • mandrake for pain, garlic for heart
  • remedies ‘published’ in Ebers Papyrus

• Ancient Chinese reveal herbal remedies
  • Pun-tsao (1600) thousands of herbal remedies

• Aztecs gifted Badianus manuscript to king of Spain
  • herbal remedies for 100 afflictions

• Greek physician, Hippocrates, Father of Medicine
  • believed diseases had natural causes
  • used various herbal remedies
  • works used for 1500 years!

• Dioscorides, Roman military physician, wrote ‘De Materia Medica’
  • 600 species of plants with medicinal value
  • recorded while on ‘military travel’

• Herbal remedies by Greeks/Romans have been kept and lost
  • willow bark tea = precursor to asprin
  • Ferula used for contraception but collected to extinction

• Renaissance age (1500) & printing press created a revival of herbalism
  • 4 German ‘Fathers of Botany’
  • Gerard, “The herbal of general history of plants”

• Publishings included medicinal uses & superstitions
  • Culpepper, “The complete herbal” included astrology

• Doctrine of Signatures: herbs resembling various parts of the body can be used to treat ailments of those body parts
  • juice of bloodwort treats blood disorders
  • lobed liverwort treats liver complaints

• Herbalism diminished in recent centuries, but remedies still were effective
  • remedies became ‘prescriptions’ by physicians
  • William Withering, 1775, foxglove for heart failure
  • new standard for pharmaceutical industry

• Purifying active extracts started in 19^th century
  • morphine from poppy in 1806
  • synthetic drugs based on natural products ~1850s

• Salicyclic acid (many plants) synthesized for pain relief
  • led to development of aspirin

• 25% of prescriptions today contain plant-derived active ingredients
  • research still investigating new active compounds
  • e.g. studying ingredients in Native America remedies

• Rural populations still rely on herbal medicine
  • China, India, S. America & Africa
  • projected to reach $1.3 Billion by 2023

• Modern Chinese medicine combines herbal, acupuncture & Western medicine
  • unique health care from 1 billion people
  • thousands of medicinal herbs

• Modern Indian culture believe in traditional medicine
  • manufactured pharmaceuticals too expensive
  • reliance on indigenous cures

• Rainforests are hubs of medical potential, but are decreasing
  • loss of tribal herbal practices

• Medicine value tied to chemical compounds
  • manufactured by biochemical pathways

• Compounds called ‘secondary products’ as they do not directly impact metabolism
  • alkaloids, glycosides, terpenes & phenolics

• Herbivore defense, inhibit fungal or bacteria pathogens

• Alkaloids: diverse compounds found in dicots
  • contain nitrogen
  • bitter
  • impact animal nervous systems
  • medicinal, poisonous, hallucinogenic
  • caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, morphine, quinine

• Glycosides: widespread compounds with glucose
  • cyanogenic or cardioactive glycosides, saponins
  • steroid molecules as active component
  • treat heart failure
  • precursors for sex hormones
  • can be very toxic

• Foxglove (digitalis purpurea) bienneial in snapdragon family
  • lawn ornamental
  • 30 different glycosides
  • can be very toxic

• Millions of USA heart patients rely on digitalis as primary treatment

• In 1775, British physician learned of a folk remedy for dropsy
  • bloating due to fluid accumulation: congestive heart failure
  • digitalis tea became treatment
  • slows heart rate, increase strength of heartbeat

• Willow tree bark used for pain reduction in many cultures
  • ancient Greeks and Native Americans
  • reduces fever and chills

• Evolution of aspirin began with willow bark experiments in England
  • 1828, salicin isolated as active ingredient
  • salicin derivatives occur in many species

• BAYER focused on acetylsalicylic acid from Spirea plant
  • less digestive issues
  • renamed to aspirin

• Malaria is one of the worlds most prevalent diseases
  • 200 million infections each year
  • records of malaria date back to ancient Egyptians
  • female Anopheles mosquite w/ Plasmodium parasite

• Fever bark tree was first treatment for malaria
  • native to east slopes of Andes mtns
  • belongs to coffee family
  • used by Incas to treat fever, then malaria

• Trade developed for powdered bark
  • 2lbs to treat one person
  • quinine was isolated before over-exploitation
  • now: synthetic cholroquinine

• Humans have suffered cancer for 1,000s of years
  • Ebers Papyrus suggested treatments
  • 2^nd leading cause of death in US

• Plants have always featured in folk remedies
  • search for anticancer plant sources began in 50’s by NCI
  • 1,000s of plants have been screened
  • several now part of chemotherapy treatments

• Vinca alkaloids for leukemia (Madagascar periwinkle)
• Taxol from Pacific yew used in many chemotherapy treatments
• Camptotheca from Chinese happy tree for ovarian cancer

• Plants and plant extracts feature prominently in alternative medicines
  • considered dietary supplements by FDA
  • $7 billion a year industry

• Dietary supplements are not subject to FDA approval
  • no rigorous clinical testing
  • FDA will only take reactionary actions

• Secondary plant compounds may have health benefits or cause adverse reactions
  • 40% of US populations uses alternative medicines
  • no clinical linkage to medications